The students of Hyderabad Central University (HCU), also popularly known as the University of Hyderabad (UoH), on Friday, October 27, organised a protest march to show solidarity with Palestinian citizens under the banner of UoH for Palestine. However, the protestors reported that they were allegedly threatened and manhandled by the university’s security personnel.
The solidarity march started at 6.30 pm on Friday evening, wherein, a group of around 150-200 students gathered at the South Shopping Complex with posters that read ‘University of Hyderabad with Palestine’ and ‘We are not free until Palestine is free’.
Raniya Zukaikha, a student of HCU, who was also present at the protest, informed “The students had asked for permission from university administration prior to the solidarity march. We did not receive any response from the administration until 6.00 pm when the students had already started to gather at the protest site. During the march, the students were forced by the security personnel, posters were torn and even female students were manhandled.”
After the incident, student group AISA (All India Students’ Organisation) also issued a statement condemning the use of force against student protestors.
“We from AISA-HCU condemn the administration's security raj that believes that they can turn breathing, thinking, feeling individuals who believe in politics of change into some 'civil' and 'sanitised' protestors who can mechanically follow administration's guidelines for even registering their solidarity with something humanitarian. AISA-HCU stands for unwavering solidarity with the people of Palestine,” the statement read.
However, when EdexLive reached out to the University of Hyderabad for clarification, the institute said that no prior permission was given to the students for a protest march.
Dr Devesh Nigam, Registrar, HCU, said “No permission was granted and no recognised student group had asked for permission. They mentioned UoH for Palestine in their banner which was objectionable. Security personnel tried to counsel them and urged them not to carry out any protest without approval but they did not adhere and pushed the security persons.”
On Friday night, the students marched from the South Shopping Complex to the small gate of University Hyderabad raising slogans in support of Palestine against Israel and demanded immediate intervention by the United Nations (UN) and other international bodies to stop the occupation of Palestine.
